MTV announces 'The Real World Awards Bash' to air March 29

By Christopher Rocchio, 02/13/2008

MTV has announced The Real World Awards Bash: Roast 'Em and Toast 'Em, the long-running MTV reality series first awards show that will bring together cast members from all 20 seasons, will air Saturday, March 29.

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The Real World Awards Bash: Roast 'Em and Toast 'Em will include highlights from the show's previous 19 editions and will also pay tribute to The Real World: San Francisco member Pedro Zamora -- who died of AIDS the day after the last episode of his season aired -- and The Real World: San Diego's Frankie Abernathy, who lost her battle to cystic fibrosis just last year.

In addition, viewers will be able to vote for the winners of the The Real World Bash Awards via MTV's website now through February 29. The website will allow fans to vote as many times as they want in 13 different categories -- including "Best Meltdown," Best Fight," "Hottest Male," Hottest Female," "Favorite Love Story" and "Favorite Season."

While The Real World: Hollywood's cast will be present at the pre-taped awards show -- which is scheduled to shoot in Los Angeles -- they obviously won't be nominated for any awards.

The Real World Awards Bash: Roast 'Em and Toast 'Em will be broadcast prior to the premiere of The Real World: Hollywood, the twentieth installment of the series that filmed last fall and will mark the show's return to California, where the series' sophomore edition -- The Real World: Los Angeles -- filmed in 1993.

Although MTV has yet to confirm The Real World: Hollywood's premiere date, the show is scheduled to debut in April, presumably with new episodes airing in its long-running Wednesdays at 10PM ET/PT time period. In addition, MTV plans to formally announce The Real World: Hollywood's cast later this month.

Much like VH1's approach to casting suitors for I Love New York's Fall 2007 second season and Flavor of Love's currently airing third installment, The Real World: Hollywood also gave fans of the show the opportunity to select one of the seven roommates who will be featured. More than 20,000 hopefuls submitted 90-minute video bios to a The Real World casting website last summer, and after more than 2.9 million votes were cast, a Daytona Beach, FL man was selected as one of the roommates.

While MTV and The Real World producers Bunim-Murray determined the other six cast members, Damon Furberg, The Real World's supervising cast director, said last March that a "back to basics" approach for casting would be implemented to find roommates with "career goals and certain things they want to achieve like way back at the beginning of the show."

In addition, The Real World: Hollywood will also "go green" in order to educate younger viewers on the importance of incorporating environmentally-friendly decisions into their everyday lives.

Eco-friendly practices featured on The Real World: Hollywood, which represents a partnership between thinkMTV and a variety of environmentally-friendly manufacturers, will include the use of solar energy; bamboo flooring; recycled glass counters and vintage decor; some sustainable furniture; energy star appliances; and energy efficient lighting.